Broadband ISP TalkTalk Increases UK Mid-Contract Price Hikes to £4
Perhaps inevitably, TalkTalk has today become the latest internet and phone provider to increase the customer cost impact of their existing mid-contract pricing policy, which will be introduced from 16th November 2025. But the price increase itself won’t hit until April 2026.
Just to recap. At the start of 2025 Ofcom began requiring telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract price hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one that sets out such price hikes “clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up” (here). This made annual price hikes clearer and more transparent, but not necessarily cheaper.
In response, many providers later followed BT’s lead by setting out a new pricing policy that would increase the monthly price that broadband customers pay by a flat £3 extra from March or April each year (this can vary a bit between providers). However, inflation has remained higher than originally anticipated and, partly as a result of that, BT (inc. EE and Plusnet), Virgin Media, Vodafone and O2 have since announced that they will increase their annual hikes (e.g. both BT and Virgin increased it from £3 to £4 on their broadband plans).
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Suffice to say it was only a matter of time until TalkTalk, which had previously adopted a £3 increase like some of the other providers, followed and introduced a similar change. The bad news is that they’ve now done this and decided to adopt the same £4 increase as BT and Virgin Media etc.
TalkTalk Price Increase Statement
From 16 November 2025 we’re changing our annual price increases on broadband plans to a flat rate of £4.
Any planned increases will be applied each April, starting in 2026. The £4 price increase applies to new customers and existing customers who take out a new contract after 16 November 2025 and will be clearly shown when customers sign up or renew their contract.
So, if you sign up to a 24-month price of £28 on or after 16 November 2025, it will increase to £32 from April 2026 and then increase to £36 from April 2027, continuing until you end that contract.
For those customers who joined us between 12 August 2024 and 15 November 2025, your broadband plan will continue to be subject to the annual price increase of £3.
For those customers who joined us before 12 August 2024, your broadband plan will continue to be subject to the old system of price increases based on the variable Consumer Price Index (CPI), plus 3.7%. For example, in 2024, the CPI rate that we used to calculate our price change was 4%, so the total increase was 7.7% of the contract price. So, each year we adjust the monthly amount you pay for your broadband and increase your price by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus 3.7%.
The CPI rate that we use is announced in January each year and we will adjust your bill by this amount, plus an additional 3.7%. This change will only apply to our broadband packages purchased before 12 August 2024. (some exemptions apply).
We adjust the amount our customers pay each year, alongside the rest of the sector – including network builders and broadband providers, to manage increased wholesale and running costs. This also enables us to continue investing in our services to manage the growing demand for faster speeds and enhanced reliability, so we can offer resilient, totally unlimited usage as standard.
Price hikes like this are sadly nothing new in this market. Often there are legitimate reasons for prices to go up, not least because providers are frequently adding all sorts of new services (e.g. 5G SA, FTTP), developing new systems, facing higher charges from suppliers or energy, implementing costly new Ofcom rules or other legislation and dealing with tax hikes from the government etc.
Nevertheless, there is a growing feeling that telecoms providers are becoming increasingly unfair in their pricing practices, and often hitting those who can least afford it the hardest (e.g. somebody on the cheapest package gets hit with the same £4 rise as those on the most expensive plans).
So far, Ofcom’s policy has thus succeeded in making mid-contract price hikes more transparent for consumers, albeit seemingly at the same time forcing them to pay more – often well above the current and forecast levels of CPI inflation. But the government do now seem to be pushing for a change (here).
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I hope these companies keep taking the mick until the calls for politicians to outright ban mid-contract price rises gets too loud to ignore. As soon as the starting prices for new customers stayed the same while rising for people within their contract term it was obvious that the practise was being used to advertise a low headline figure, and nothing to do with inflation.
In the interim the ASA need to insist that all the prices paid throughout the contract term are advertised at the same size and as the total each month, not small text saying “increases by £4 each April”.
The same a lot whining about bankruptcy is increasing customer costs. They can honestly go bust I couldn’t care less
Here here
What they said:-
“So, if you sign up to a 24-month price of £28 on or after 16 November 2025, it will increase to £32 from April 2026 and then increase to £36 from April 2027, continuing until you end that contract.”
What it should say:-
“So, if you sign up to a 24-month price of £28 on or after 16 November 2025, it will… continu{e] until you end that contract.”
This is just a £4 off per month promo under a different guise!
Why don’t they have 6 months contract. Then they have no excuse for increasing prices?
TalkTalk won’t even exist in 2026, so there’s no need to talk about future price increases. They deserve all they get.
Why on earth should talktalk go bankrupt?? They still remain one of the leaders. BT is much worse !!
After the price increases, TalkTalk are still far cheaper than the ‘no mid contract price rises’ providers who front load high prices.
FANNY_VERIFY: A number of Altnets do not have mid contract price increases and are cheaper than Talk Talk overall.
I’d like to thank OFCOM for making this possible… cheers to you protecting the consumer from big corporations who’s entire core ethos is to extract the most money from their customers
oh wait..
Ofcom are just a self serving waste of space.
It’s really disheartening that these companies continue to get away with these practices. Especially so when there are good quality providers like A&A, Zen and Spitfire who all price their products accurately for the contract duration without the need to boost the prices mid-contract.
With the way adverts are ran, t is becoming increasingly obvious that these price rises are just a really bad promotion on new contracts in disguise.
I actually can’t think of any other industry where this would be a fair contract term either.
In short, the practice needs banning and OFCOM have not protected the consumer with their recent changes in any way, shape or form.
Looks like first year costs on Openreach 900 services for A&A, Zen and Spitfire are £1020, £615 and £706 respectively. Whereas TalkTalk are £360. Even with a couple of £4 price rises within a contract they are still much cheaper.
Exactly as FibreBubble stated. If you don’t like these mid-contract price rises from TalkTalk, BT and VM02 etc, then go sign up with Zen and A&A etc – but long term you’ll be paying well more than those TT/BT/VM02 customers. TalkTalk do also offer no-mid-contract price rise contracts, but you need to ring them to get these deals (and they are obviously more expensive).
At least they’re not shafting customers who are already in contract.
So, if current inflation is 4%, and we are paying £28 per month, surely £4 is more than 4%. We will be searching for a new provider, which is no help to TT is it?
Now you’re WalkWalkin’!
I do wonder how many of these companies would accept a mid contract price rise from their suppliers…..
All of them – they don’t have a choice. Openreach and City Fibre and all the other FTTP providers all have the ability to increase charges onto TalkTalk and all the other wholesalers mid-contract.
The around-April dash for a contract with only one price rise (or a contract with only a month or two at the double-rise price) is surely skewing the market.
I’d be happy with a contract that was either fixed throughout, or maybe one with a known price increase at the twelve-month point.
That, OfCom, would be the “transparency” you seek. And surely better for the companies’ financial planning too?
First it’s was 50p, 70p 80p £1.50, £1.80 £2.50 now £4.00 2027 £6.00
Neverending fleecing customers this mid price hike yearly should be banned for food.
They could of done things different and be the only big provider who doesn’t increase the prices would of attracted a lot of customers
Or Of(in)Com(petent), could have made the price rises CPI or £x whichever is the lower increase…
And of course as OFxxx answer to the Cabinet Office, so Incomeptent Cabinet Office and hence Incompetent Government